41. The international Situation of Russia.
As we have previously noted, the necessity for the communist revolution arises above all from the circumstance that Russia has become intimately connected with the system of world economy. Our country is now merely a part of the world economy. If the question arises, in what way Russia can advance to the communist system in spite of the backward condition of the country, the answer will mainly be given by pointing to the international significance of the revolution. The proletarian revolution must to-day be a world revolution. On world lines only can it develop. Central and Western Europe will inevitably pass under the dictatorship of the proletariat, and in this way to communism. How, then, could Russia remain a capitalist country if Germany, France, and England were to pass under the proletarian dictatorship? It is plain that Russia must become involved in the movement to socialism. Her backwardness, the comparatively undeveloped state of her industry, and so on, would all be overcome if Russia were to form part of an international, or even merely a European, soviet republic, and thus to be associated with more advanced lands. It is true that Europe will be terribly exhausted and weakened after the devastation of the war and after the revolution. But a vigorous and highly developed proletariat will be able in the course of a few years to reestablish the industrial system on a firm footing, and even backward Russia will be able to do the same. Russia possesses great natural resources in the form of timber, coal,